Ceiling light fixtures or fans are typically constructed with flat base members for mounting on flat ceilings. It is common however for buildings to be constructed with angular surfaces such as cathedral or vaulted ceilings, which call for special adaptations to allow use of standard ceiling fans and standard light fixtures. For cathedral ceilings, it is commonly desirable to mount the light fixture or fan at the apex of the ceiling to provide a balanced appearance and a pleasing visual effect and also to achieve the greatest efficiency.
Traditionally, lights or fans mounted at the apex of a cathedral ceiling are either suspended from a bracket or are attached to an electrical box which is anchored to the truss or load bearing member in the ceiling. A housing or boot is then constructed around the exposed electrical box or bracket to cover the wiring and create a pleasing aesthetic effect.
Other methods include the use of a standard mounting block, which has a planar, horizontal lower surface and either a planar or angular upper surface. The upper surface can be cut away as needed to provide an exact fit to the pitch of the cathedral ceiling. The block is typically constructed of a material that is easy to cut, such as styrofoam. A deficiency of the standard mounting block is that it is difficult to reproduce the exact pitch of the ceiling on the top of the mounting box, and this frequently leads to unsightly gaps from an insufficient fit.
Another method, as cited in U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,788, for example, cites a multi-layered mounting block which includes a bottom member having a planar, horizontal lower surface, and inverted V-shaped upper surface, and several successive upper members having various pitches to conform to a plurality of possible ceiling pitches. This type of arrangement, while accommodating several different ceiling pitches, requires the use of some type of aligning mechanism to keep the successive upper members aligned with each other and with the bottom member and keeping all sides flush. The alignment mechanism, whether dowels placed through holes or pitch connectors, becomes very complex and difficult to align.
Therefore, as shown by these several limitations, cathedral ceiling fixture mounting systems of the present art have not proven fully satisfactory for enabling easy installation of cathedral ceiling fixtures.